John Wiswell: Writer Spotlight

My recommended author of the week is the thoroughly engaging satirist, John Wiswell. He cleverly forges sarcasm and irony into a humorously appealing language. There are no forbidden topics for this intrepid scribe. On his blog site, The Bathroom Monologues, he confronts the controversial issue of abortion and presents us with the flipside of the proverbial coin: fetuses aborting their mothers. “One mother argued her own case in a French court this April, claiming she feared her baby would terminate her just because she couldn’t promise that the doctor wouldn’t spank him.” from Take the Other Side.

His rationalist perspective of a perceived shark attack pleases both the intellect and the funny bone. “A Washington D.C. Rationalist Think Tank was on holiday at the undisclosed beach that day. Three employees saw it break the surface. Tammy saw a deck of playing cards. Guido saw a platter of fried shrimp. Ironically only one of the rationalists, Virginia Welsley, saw a shark fin. Even more ironically, she was the only rationalist in the water.” from Rorschark Attack.

He’s a completely versatile writer who can easily pen a good old-fashioned, supernatural horror tale. “A bride with a bloody gown and knives for fingers stood in Chantal’s door. Her lipless mouth grinned, asking, ‘You said Bloody Mary in the mirror three times on October 29, 1984, right?’” from Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody...

But moreover, he can create a cerebral killer capable of expatiating philosophies during a gruesome act of violence. “He dropped the left hand to start on the right. It lolled off the side of the workbench, bushing against Matvey’s knee. He kicked it aside and continued. ‘Now your country’s Mark Twain said familiarity breeds children, which is funnier. Also less true, I think. I am mighty familiar with my siblings, but unless I blacked out one holiday, I never fathered a baby by them.’” from Familiarity Breeds.

John Wiswell’s writing is bold, bright, beautiful, and a bunch of other “B” words I’m too excited to recall.

Works of interest include:

Take the Other Side
flash fiction published on the author’s blog:
The Bathroom Monologues


Rorschark Attack
flash fiction published on:
Short Story Library


Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody...
flash fiction work published on:
Six Sentences


Familiarity Breeds
flash fiction work published on:
Powder Burn Flash


Broadcasting from Unconfirmed
flash fiction work published on:
MicroHorror


Visit John’s blog to view “something you don’t see every day.”
The Bathroom Monologues